Showjumping is here!

The seventh week of the 2018 Winter Equestrian Festival (WEF) at the Palm Beach International Equestrian Center in Wellington, FL, concluded on Sunday, February 25, with wins for Rodrigo Pessoa and Santiago Lambre. Pessoa (BRA) rode Chaganus to the win in the $50,000 Grand Prix CSI 2*, presented by The Dutta Corp. in association with Guido Klatte, while Lambre (MEX) and Doloris were victorious in the $70,000 Hollow Creek Farm 1.50m Classic CSI 5*.

WEF continues with its eighth week of competition on February 28-March 4 with CSIO 4* competition sponsored by U.S. Trust & Bank of America Merrill Lynch. Highlights include the $35,000 Hermès Under 25 Semi-Final Grand Prix on Friday, March 2, at 7 p.m., the $150,000 Nations Cup, presented by U.S. Trust & Bank of America Merrill Lynch on Saturday, March 3, at 7 p.m., and the $205,000 CSIO4* Grand Prix, presented by Lugano Diamonds on Sunday, March 4, at 1 p.m. WEF hosts hunter, jumper, and equitation competition until April 1 and offers more than $9 million in prize money.

There were 37 entries in the $70,000 Hollow Creek Farm 1.50m Classic CSI 5*, and nine advanced to the jump-off. The fastest clear round came from the final ride, Santiago Lambre (MEX) with his own Doloris (Harley VDL & Colorado D). By leaving strides out in the first and last lines, he stopped the timers in 36.72 seconds for the win.

Just slightly behind the time in second place was Ben Maher (GBR) on Poden Farms’ Carlson 86 (Colorit x Auftritt) in 36.81 seconds. Catherine Tyree (USA) and Mary Tyree’s Catungee (Contact Me x Liatos) were third in 37 seconds flat.

While Lambre found and purchased Doloris, a 10-year-old KWPN mare by Harley VDL x Colorado D, as six-year-old, he did not start competing regularly with her until the end of her eight-year-old year.

Lambre moved from Belgium to Wellington in 2017 after living in Europe for ten years. He and Doloris won five FEI ranking classes in 2017 in Lambre’s first year of competing in the United States. After a two-month break, Lambre came ready to compete at WEF.

“She started not in the highest form, but after the last two weeks, she started to jump really fantastic again,” he said.

“She has a lot of blood. I try to her to let her do a bit what she wants because she doesn’t like too much control,” described Lambre. “Sometimes when it’s too technical, it can be a bit difficult, but the good thing is when it’s the jump-off, you can go really fast.”